Crossword Genius

Royal music-lover, smoker and drinker (3,4,4)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

old king cole

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'smoker and drinker' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I cannot tell whether it can be defined by this definition.

'royal music-lover' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'royal' could be 'king' (a king is royal) and 'king' is found in the answer.
'music' could be 'e' and 'e' is present in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Another definition for old king cole that I've seen is " Merry soul of rhyme".)

I've seen this clue in The Globe and Mail.
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